Jana Wilson earn her way through the gravid wooden gate as caramel - colored feather flash in the Indiana sunshine and rubberycombs — crimson and strangely circular — bob and rock . Several set of Olea europaea wooden leg roll over , and Wilson is soon chevy by Sicilian Buttercups . Some gently cluck and coo their hullo . Others more loudly demand the treats she ’s brought .
“ They originally called them ‘ Sicilian Buttercups ’ because they come over from Sicily , ” Wilson says . “ And they are the only Gallus gallus in the world that has this completely circular , closed coxcomb . There are no other strain that have that . In fact , the motto of theAmerican Buttercup Clubwas ‘ The diadem of the illusion . ’ ”
During the past 15 years , Wilson has breed hundreds of Sicilian Buttercups at her Bloomington , Indiana , homestead . “ I would hatch 100 and keep two , ” she says . “ That ’s what happens when you have a stock that ’s not very well break — one that has a lot of flaw , because there ’s not a heap of them and the bloodlines are not very proficient . ”
When take the skilful specimen , Wilson turn over each chicken ’s comb constellation , leg color , body shape andfeather pattern . Largely self - teach , she has relied on advice from other poultry breeders as well as the onlineChicken Genetics groupon Facebook . “ A lot of people said , ‘ Boy , you really give way for the most difficult strain , ’ ” Wilson says .
One of the trickiest aspects to genteelness buttercup is keeping the circular comb closed . “ The original genetics were [ expressed with ] two combs side - by - side , ” she says . “ So , they control this chick so that the comb closed up . ”
Failure to pluck birdie lacking the round comb results in chickens with parallel comb . “ If you just let them go — and I have some that look like that — then the combs are side - by - side , ” Wilson say . “ But it ’s kind of nerveless . ”
Saved by the Shell
With just a fistful of U.S. breeders , Sicilian Buttercups have become as rarefied as hens ’ teeth . Still , there was a sentence when they pecked and scrape on farms from Boston to Bakersfield . Sicilian Buttercups came to America in 1863 aboard Capt . Cephas Dawes ’s ship called the Fruiterer . laden with orange , raisins and fig , the ship was ready to voyage from Sicily back to its New England base when some specially attractive chickens in the local marketplace caught the maitre d' ’s oculus . Dawes bought them with idle thought of fresh heart and soul on the gamey seas , but the birds ’ egg - laying prowess always continue their execution .
According to a 1913 composition in the American Poultry Advocate , “ They pose so continually and well , great white eggs with very unfaltering shells and racy , delicate flavor , and as they were of a specially easy , muted disposition , they before long became the pets of the entire gang and fared well ; and thus won the regard of captain and crew . ”
After fall to New England , Dawes break some of the Sicilian Buttercups to his neighbour , Carroll Loring , who go on to breed and help vulgarize the mixture . In a letter to the American Poultry Advocate , Loring wrote : “ Sicily Buttercups are handsome , attractive , endearing fowls to every cleaning woman , and money makers for Isle of Man . They are very tame , teachable pet , somewhat larger than leghorns . They bestow success , comfort and profit to all who keep them . ” To that high congratulations , he added , “ With genial discussion , buttercups become companions like a dog or a cat . ”
Loring is credit with name the raw strain “ buttercup ” after its cuplike comb and “ reddish butter ” coloring . In Loring ’s day , it was thought that , with careful selection , the Sicilian Buttercup could be made to bring on 300 eggs per class . deform out , the Sicilian Buttercup is a relatively reliable stratum .
The Gateway Chickens
Wilson did n’t incisively set out to fall out in Loring ’s buttercup - breeding step . “ The way of life we get into chickens was [ my married man ’s ] flaw , ” she says . “ He had a friend at work who was make chickens . ”
Curious to have a few of their own , they started with six American Red Stars .
“ They were just for testicle lay , and we fall in love with them , ” Wilson says . “ Then we went to a wimp show , and I was entrance by all the different breeds . ” Drawn to orchis in shades of pale trollop and greenish blue , Wilson addedAmeraucanasto her flock . While depend for a few excess Ameraucanas , Wilson met Carl Fosbrink . Based in Seymour , Indiana , Fosbrink had Ameraucanas , but he also had buttercups . “ I see the buttercups and I was like ‘ Wow ! What are those ? ’ ” she says . “ I imagine they were gorgeous , so I bought two female person . ”
It would n’t take long before Wilson visited Fosbrink again . “ I come home and read all about butterflower and decided to go back and buy a male , ” she says . She began breed Sicilian Buttercups in businesslike . “ I hatch a luck ! And , afterwards , Carl became very inauspicious — too ill to take care of [ his birds]—and , so , he sell me his whole raft . ” Fosbrink passed away in 2015 , and , Wilson note , “ I feel a great responsibility to him to go on on . ”
New Blood
In part , Wilson specify to honor Fosbrink ’s memory board by keep his rail line of Sicilian Buttercups live . But she ’s also driven to keep the variety going in the U.S.
“ The American Livestock Conservancy has a list of birds that are endangered and threatened , ” she say . “ The buttercup was really taken off ‘ Endangered ’ and put on ‘ threaten , ’ but I do n’t understand why , because I do n’t mean there are that many . ”
Just how easy is it to get Sicilian Buttercups in the U.S. correctly now ? “ It ’s practically impossible , ” Wilson allege . “ There are a few people out on the west coast [ who raise buttercups ] . And , unfortunately , I lose a bunch of my birds a couple of years ago . ”
She ’s still recovering from the reversal . “ The only birds I had left were some with spoilt qualities , so I kind of had to go over , ” she says . Wilson had lost some key genetical traits , such as branch color . “ I did n’t have any light-green legs impart , ” she says . “ So , I tamper around , and this year I went back to older dame . They do n’t lay as much and they ’re not as fertile , but I have my dark-green leg back . I just await at them now and am like , ‘ Oh , honorable ! ’ ”
She has some really gracious bird this year , which she calls ‘ The Preciouses , ’ because she only has four of them . “ I have a lot of older ones , but these are my new ones , ” she suppose . “ They are the standard bearer . ”
To prevent job consociate with inbreeding , Wilson sometimes trades birds with other buttercup breeder . “ There ’s a guy out in New York I hump , and he and I have swap a dyad of times , ” she says . “ And there are some hatchery that bid buttercups . I bought some one year just to see what they looked like and thinking I might get some new blood , but they were wicked . ”
She has even looked into jaunt to Italy to acquire novel buttercups .
“ The ones in Italy are a small bit different , ” she says . “ They do have a orbitual comb , but they come in different coloring material . They are n’t just the gold kingcup . ” But Wilson ’s since shelved the idea . “ It ’s easier to transport a raspberry outside of the U.S. to another country than it is to bring a bird here , ” she allege .
Show Time
Of the hundreds of buttercups she ’s raised since 2003 , Wilson believes only 20 were cheeseparing - perfect specimen . She has exhibited her birds in regional and home domestic fowl display and has post some wins . “ With rare birds , it ’s really surd to come through , because people do n’t know the monetary standard , ” she says . “ And they ’re going to have some flaws , because there are n’t that many birds to breed from . ”
TheAmerican Poultry Associationaccepted the Sicilian Buttercup into its officialStandard of Perfectiontome in 1918 . “ TheStandard of Perfectionsays [ buttercups ] have to have green wooden leg and round combs , ” Wilson read . In particular , it account , “ A comb adjust steadfastly on the center of skull , with a unmarried drawing card from base of beak to a deep loving cup - mold crown formed by a stark set of regular point . The caries within the rope of point should be thick ; the texture of comb , ok and smooth . ”
“ Before production birdie get democratic , farmers would get together , and they would take expectant pride in breed their birds , ” Wilson says . “ They would have little clubs where they ’d get together to make up one’s mind what the bird should face like . ” They also enter their chicken in poultry expo that were every bit as big as the Westminster Dog Show is today — possibly big . “ In Madison Square Garden , they had this huge poultry show where the Sicilian Buttercup was usher in , ” Wilson says . “ Buttercups were the thing . ”
Standards were also put in place for the coloring , size , weight and chassis of buttercup hen and roosters . There are even disqualifying traits . If , for example , your buttercup ’s ear lobes are “ more than two - thirds red-faced ” ? Get out ! ( Apparently , turn - of - the - one C domestic fowl fancier heatedly debate whether a raspberry ’s earlobes should be flushed or ashen . “ you may breed that in and out , ” Wilson says . “ And what happen is , when you have a white earlobe , they lay clean eggs , but , if you countenance the ear lobe go back to red , eventually they can go back to lay brown egg . ” )
What’s Next?
Wilson late added a 2d Mediterranean strain — the Ancona — to her chicken thousand . Sporting shameful feathering with lily-white polka dit , the spectacular birds sure can hold their own next to their in an elaborate way patterned counterparts . But when it come to her soft situation for the Sicilian Buttercup , there is but no replacing it .
On bolstering her buttercup stock she says , “ Every class you retrieve , ‘ Maybe this is going to be the one ! ’ I ’ve had some adorable hiss this class , and I ’m much more heartened by my ability to keep the breed run low . ”
Sidebar: Sales Calls
Although she might be charm , Jana Wilson ca n’t keep every kingcup she hatches , so she ’ll occasionally sell her supererogatory roosters and hens — but only after cautiously vet would - be buyers . “ I learned you ca n’t deal the birds to just anybody , ” she says . “ These are not good birds for beginners . ” Case in detail : Because buttercup roosters have such with child combs , they ’re more susceptible to cryopathy during the winter .
To help oneself people infer what ’s involved with buttercup care , Wilson talks with them before a sales agreement and checks in on them later as well . She ’s shipped buttercups as far away as Virginia , Arizona , Colorado and California . “ I put orchard apple tree slices in there with them , ” she enunciate . To date , all of the Bronx cheer she ’s shipped have survived .
This account originally appeared in the January / February 2019 subject ofChickensmagazine .
